The C hinese– V enezuelan Oil Agreements: Material and Nonmaterial Goals

This article explores the C hinese– V enezuelan oil agreements established after 2007 to identify both governments' objectives and to pose questions of interest for determining their possibilities and limitations. The first section discusses the global energy background and the evolution of the V enezuelan economy in the last decade, including changes to oil policy after 1999; the second section analyzes the content of the bilateral oil agreements; and the third section evaluates the material and nonmaterial aspects of C hinese and V enezuelan foreign policies included in them. The article concludes that, although both governments share some ideational premises, realpolitik matters in their bilateral oil cooperation.